Students and staff gathered on the first floor of the Student Union to see who would get pied in the face, as part of a fundraiser held by the Los Medanos College Honors club Tuesday, April 7.
The annual Pie in the Face fundraiser invites members of the college to donate money to the Honors club under their desired candidate with cash and through Venmo leading up to the event. At the end of the fundraising period, which lasted about one week, the candidate with the most money raised under their name gets “pied” in the face. 
This year’s candidates were MESA program coordinator Michael Simpson, Puente co-coordinator Yollotl Lopez, college President Pamela Ralson, Honors director Jennifer Saito and Honors club President Manya Rana. Each candidate was nominated by Honors students and notified by the Honors program about their selection for the activity.
“I’m always interested in supporting students and fundraising, so it was easy to say yes,” said Simpson. He added that he was not worried about being pied, donating $20 under his own name the day of the event to raise more money for the club.
The Honors club at LMC runs in partnership with the Honors Program, a learning community on campus. Students who are in the learning community have the opportunity to take specialized Honors courses, participate in Honors club events and have access to transfer partnerships with top universities, including UCLA. Honors scholars who fulfill the requirements for the transfer partnership, had a 72% acceptance rate into UCLA in 2025 — much higher than the 23% acceptance rate that non-honors transfer students had within the same admission year.
Throughout the fundraising process, the amount of money raised for each candidate is kept a secret until totals are announced on the day of the event, creating a level of suspense and surprise to the fundraiser. As the donation window came to a close, students and staff rushed to add money to their picks before the winner was revealed.
Once the totals were tallied up by Honors club officers, Gabrielle DeLa’o, co-fundraising ambassador for the Honors club, revealed the totals each candidate raised. In the end, it was Rana who won the event with $163 raised in her name, with Saito just behind at $143, followed by Lopez at $122, Simpson at $111 and Ralston with $109.
Covered in shaving cream, Rana reflected on the event.
“I’m just really glad that we raised so much money and I would just like to give a shoutout to a couple of people that donated a lot.”
Honors also set up a bake sale next to the donation area, running from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. where they sold homemade baked goods donated by Honors students and lemonade raising around $411. Combined with the money from the Pie in the Face event, they raised over $1000. 
Applications for Honors are currently open for Fall semester on the LMC Honors Transfer Program website. Spots are limited and typically fill up fast so interested students should try to sign up soon. There are about 120 spots open — 60 spots for high school seniors transitioning to LMC and 60 for returning students.
